It may be several MONTHS before I can get a computer that will get internet, still borrowing Libchik's for that. (Of course, not being on the internet but once a week or so might be the best thing for my head in the last ten years.) Twittering by cell phone will help me keep up with my Migraine and Meniere's buds in the meantime.

Maybe I'll Twitter about growing natural airborne sourdough or the trials of removing cotton seeds from the boles by hand. Or dreams--got a column in the works about dream analysis.

Need to finish the column about castor oil packs for painful gallbladder...they work for me and they're more relaxing than the Valium I take for tinnitus and vertigo. Oh just give up now! XD Picture the sensuality of floating in a pool of warm, golden, sleek and slippery, slightly nutty-fragranced oil and that's not what a pack is like, but I've got an active imagination. I want to share the non-drug things I'm doing for pain relief that actually work for me. Yep, even careful usage of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines following the label directions exactly can exacerbate headpain. I need to save all the pain meds I have to stop the worst pain I have right now which is from Migraine. Maybe OTC meds should be listed as headache triggers??

Speaking of which--the cold-core upper level low that's supposed to bring us snow has triggered a Migraine attack which has just gotten started. My right arm is feeling funny and I'm seeing flashbulbs, and I'm nauseated. That funny-feeling-in-my-right-arm sensation has preceded basilar-type Migraine attacks in the past so I may go ahead and medicate this now instead of trying something else first. Gads, I hate Migraine.

heeheehee...maybe I'll Twitter about how I'm keeping stored emergency water fresh by using it on a rotational basis to cleanse crystals. See, if you then use it to water plants, you've gotten three uses out of it, and four if you water vegetables that you eat. Hey, we're under water-use restrictions. They hit us with huge surcharges for usages over a certain number of gallons per month. And my mother's lettuce and radishes have already come up. Poor things might freeze under snow but she doesn't care. She'll just plant more. She saves seeds so she's ahead no matter. She is Thrift Personified. There is a true story of the clean, never-used Kleenex in the pocket of her gardening jeans that got washed and dried...she carefully unfolded the washed Kleenex--I'm not making this up--laid it out to dry and then used it.

Until I can borrow this computer again, I love you all.

~The Incongruously Sparkling Daughter of Thrift Personified.

Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission under any circumstances. Contact me to request permission to link. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Short column. I'm overwhelmed right now. Too much sadness, too much sickness, and now more death.

Got a call from one of my father's side cousins today. Her mother, my father's next-in-line sister, had two more hours to live, she told me the doctor had just told them. My aunt is in inpatient hospice. Nine days ago, she suddenly refused food and water. She's got metastasized breast cancer. My cousin said not to even come down today because they're already covered up with more people than they can handle.

My father died of metastasized prostate cancer last May. His sister, by now, has probably died of mestastasized breast cancer. Please, please, everyone who reads this: get checked. Get treated. Please live.

Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission under any circumstances. Contact me to request permission to link. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

"...where beer does flow and men chunder..."Land Down Under, band Men at Work

*retch* *chunder* *[insert vomit synonym of choice]*

I'm on a borrowed computer for now. I may be on borrowed time. :p

My mother had some heavy yard work done this morning in the backyard. She and I were looking at the finished yard after the men had left and she was telling me that we should never have to worry about weeds in the backyard again, because they had sprayed the whole place with...

Roundup. Roundup. Roundup.

Men sprayed my entire backyard with Roundup.

(I can smell and taste nasty chemicals now.)

This is a perfect example of how lack of knowledge and incomplete communication can kill. My mother never uses chemicals of any sort in her gardening, not even chemical fertilizer. Just...read....

I was horror-struck. Mom asked if I thought the Roundup would kill the ivy growing on the trees and I told her it might kill the entire tree too. I told her we might not have any living thing left there as a result of this spraying. We have all sorts of critters back there--turtles, scorpions (one crawled into my father's work boot one time), lizards, snakes, chipmunks, squirrels, and hundreds of birds. There's a family of raccoons next door. Maybe not anymore.

I'm ill, emotionally and physically ill.

Mom said that she told the man she didn't want anything poisonous back there. I told her that sure, he probably got all the poison ivy and poison oak. She said that no, she told him nothing poisonous. I asked if she told him no chemicals and she said...nothing.

This is going to trigger--and it has already begun--every symptom I ever have. Might create some new ones.

Roundup.

Please, for the love of the Earth and everything on it, don't buy or use Roundup. I believe it works by sterilizing the soil to a certain depth so that nothing can grow. I don't believe that dirt treated with Roundup can ever be rehabilitated to make it arable again. And then it gets into the ground water, and then animals drink it, and then...

Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission under any circumstances. Contact me to request permission to link. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The slugs that have been pulling the dead donkey that is now a Toshiba paperweight finally dried up and died. Libchik's DBF said it was the mother board, something about the A side I think...it's no longer supported by Toshiba so yeah, time for a new computer.

Anyhow, my files are on a flash drive and I've borrowed Libchik's computadora until I can get one.

Here's to a better--2010! XD

Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission under any circumstances. Contact me to request permission to link. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

It appears that Oprah Winfrey is going hormonal again. If you missed the recent episode with Suzanne Somers (and I did--I've missed every episode of The Oprah Winfree Show ever shown!), then you might be interested in the Newsweek review of it. Unfortunately, Newsweek isn't offering free linking to online articles or I'd point you there. But, I've read it and it was interesting.

Bottom line: Newsweek assessed her TV show as not fair and balanced, but her concurrent Oprah magazine article on the same topic as far better.

But what were they about? Bioidentical hormones compared to conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) and synthetic conjugated estrogens (CSE) for women in menopause, either natural or surgically induced.

I am most assuredly not as studied-up on bioidentical hormones as Suzanne Somers and Oprah Winfrey. I wouldn't dream of giving anyone, male or female, any opinion about the state of his or her own hormones. I just learned from reading around today that even without hormone or estrogen replacement, a woman's body will produce a small amount of estradiol through her adrenal cortex tissue whether she has any functioning ovaries or not.

I'm writing this article mostly to gripe about--marketing and words.

I had a TVH-BSO (total vaginal hysterectomy-bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy) in 2004. Gone were the evil ovaries that patently and categorically refused to give me peace. In the month leading up to my surgery, I did intensive reading and pondering about post-surgical ovarian secretion substitutes. Only for my own self did I do this, so don't anyone run to a doctor and say "Well, Parin Stormlaughter said such-and-such was the best..."

Anyhow...

Conjugated equine estrogens are made from the urine of pregnant horses--mares. The drug industry calls them the "natural" estrogens. Synthetic conjugated estrogens are made from plants and plant extracts and the drug industry does not consider them to be natural.

Please take a moment to glance at this chart from the Premarin website. Notice the page is entitled "Common Alternate Estrogen Replacement Therapy Products in the U.S." Notice that in the URL string it's "synth". Is that short for synthetics?

Ladies and gentlemen (and guys, I hope for the love of the women in your life that you're still with me here), there is nothing synthetic about a yam. Or soybeans, unless they're genetically-modified soybeans and that's for another column...

In my opinion, there is nothing more naturally human or "real" about equine estrogen nor anything "synthetic" about plant-based estradiol. There, I've said it.

There are arguments to be made on both sides. One could validly point out inconsistencies between people who eat horse meat but refuse to take CEEs. One could validly point out that putting a yam through the processing necessary to conjugate an estrogen is about as far from the tuber as you can get.

I see both sides. I am repelled by the thought of putting anything derived from mare urine in my mouth, which is what one does when taking Premarin. I try to be consistent, though. I'm repelled by the thought of ever needing a pig valve for my heart for example, and someday I may be faced with that decision depending on how my mitral valve prolapse goes.

I don't use placenta products on my hair. There are all sorts of skin care products that use what they euphemistically call "DNA" in their products designed to be absorbed through skin capillaries. I'll eat a burger now and then but I could easily be a happy lacto-ovo vegetarian (and was for a few years).

I'm a true child of the land. Horse manure makes marvelous compost (although really, chicken manure is better if you can get it). My sister-in-law was a state champion equestrian in her teenage years. She and I used to ride, she on her rescued thoroughbred racehorse who had fractured his leg and would have been destroyed if she had not taken him in, and me on her old childhood quarter horse. The quarter horse retired to the loving home of a child with skeletal difficulties where he made the child's life bloom--that's a story I want to write someday. Love, love, love horses.

I guess I'm complaining that mare-urine-derived estrogen does NOT seem more natural for humans than plant-derived estradiol. Sounds like a marketing strategy designed to pull in people who otherwise have no opinion but feel like "natural health" is better than synthetic health. Gripes the left side of my behind to see marketing strategies of this sort.

I use Vivelle-dot, whose estradiol is derived from yams. I had nearly completed very early menopause when I had my surgery at 43 years of age. When I started Vivelle-dot, I was suddenly in a world that I never knew could be so...even. Any menopausal woman needing to feel better deserves to, and I'll stand right beside you on that.

And I won't criticize you for what you choose. We all have very important decisions to make about our bodies. I'm there.

Be aware that drug-industry generated labels may or may not conform to your own beliefs. Read, study, ponder, sift it all through your belief system, and be able to explain your decision if you are challenged. Keep up with the latest information.

And know that the Sparkling One will be here to share what gripes the left side of her behind. It's big enough for plenty of things to gripe it, that's for sure. :D

The answer to my most FAQ is yes, I'm very much as I appear to be. If you like me on the outside, you'll love me on the inside. Dadgum head in the beehive...must be Valentine's Day in the air.

Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission under any circumstances. Contact me to request permission to link. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.

I was in my teenage years during the 1970s. The '70s saw the Ecology Movement (which I still actively participate in), discos (I suavely buffaloed my way past the waiting line into NYC's Xenon disco in 1979 XD), and the Sexual Revolution. Ah, the days of the cheesy, corny pick-up lines!

Used to be people would start conversations by asking about astrological signs. And since you're wondering...I'm Sagittarius, Moon in Scorpio with Gemini rising. My biggest deal is Mercury, which is associated with my rising Gemini and also is in my sun sign of Sagittarius. I can't slow my brain down long enough to learn to be less HIGH STRUNG...wait...is that actually right???

I've seen reporting on this Japanese blood-type movement before today but this article is particularly good. It describes how personalities and blood type have been linked.

No one wants to be stereotypically pegged, but, uhm...I'm A neg and...well...the article has me pegged. Both of my excellent Assistant Offspring are O neg. They're both generous and can be stubborn, but then, isn't eveyone like that at times?

Guess I need to get an English translation of one of those ten Japanese best-sellers and read more about it!

Actually, I'm a proponent of some aspects of blood type revelations for nutritional and stress-reduction because they work for us. Before anyone has a coronary, I ONLY follow naturopathic physician Dr. Peter D'Adamo and the Right4YourType system. He has published peer-reviewed articles and lectures on blood type and health. In the past he had been granted stage II US Federal funding for breast cancer research using--and I'm not making this up--escargot. Don't know the outcome of his research but the concept is interesting, to me at least.

I fully understand that snails for cancer simply will not make sense to anyone not familiar with Dr. D'Adamo's work. He's onto something though to be into Stage II funding for research. I've got an article started about blood type and health. Hope to have it up soon.

Dr. D'Adamo's work has been very good for us. For example, if you're an O, you may feel better if you exercise every day until you're sweaty, if you eat more lean red meat, and you should be aware of autoimmune diseases. I need to BOLO for heart disease and cancer and find gentle ways to relax and exercise. Anyone can get any disease (well, I would never have had prostate cancer because I'm a GIRL and I won't have any reproductive system cancers because I've had a complete hysterectomy), but Os are more likely to need more intensive management of autoimmune conditions and As are more likely to die of any cancer they develop, according to Dr. D'Adamo. In other words, if I do develop diabetes I should be able to do nicely with diet and exercise. If an O develops cancer, surgery and/or conservative measures should cure him or her completely.

Strenuous exercise triggers Migraine attacks consistently and has triggered Meniere's attacks at times in me. If my two aikidokas (students of aikido) don't get full, tough training sessions they get ungrounded and sick. More than a bite or two of red meat hits my gut and sits there like a rock until I'm ill. They don't feel like they've eaten if they don't have red meat three or four times a week. Grains help me feel good but make them retain fluids and gain weight. These are just our experiences--YMMV.

I know there is more to healthy life than any one isolated concept. Health isn't all about carbs, or all about trans-fats, or all about blood type. But knowledge of how your particular blood type can be a reflection of what makes you feel good and healthy can be "helpful and hopeful" and that's the only thing Edgar Cacye said his psychic readings were good for.

I'll add this: Type As physically react poorly to stress because we stay in a state of high cortisol all the time. I've had the two most stressful years of my entire life in 2007 and 2008, and now I'm disabled.

I had a big blood sugar crash this afternoon--that blood-sugar testing last Wednesday seems to have screwed me up and I haven't been able yet to get "right 4 my type" again--and I'm not going to write for a few days (or even check email) until I feel better. I need more turkey and good vegetable proteins, more plain yogurt and buttermilk, and that should square me away.

But I HAD to share this article.

Ok, so I'm aware that this whole subject is really "out there" for some of my amazing readers. But I'm up for fun so hey, Handsome Man--what's your type? ;D

Note: Link to article will remain for one month, courtesy of iCopyright. If you want to read it here, read it now! :)

Copyright 2008-2009 Parin Stormlaughter, Sparkling With Crystals, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I do not grant reprint permission under any circumstances. Contact me to request permission to link. And remember that if my work gets published anywhere else, I'll pray for you. And perhaps take legal action. Rest assured, prayer is far more effective.